What a priceless gift, an undeserved life.

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU!

I figured I needed a new place to journal, so here we go!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my faith... more importantly, my religion. Since I was raised Catholic, I didn't really know much else that the tradition that's involved in being a Catholic. However, during junior high I really began to become curious about my faith and who Jesus Christ is to me. My mom and some friends played an important role in me asked Jesus into my heart during eighth grade. Ever since then I've been constantly seeking after God, and that's why I've been struggling with knowing that being Catholic is where I'm supposed to be. I had never been able to pinpoint my reasons for why I no longer identify with the Catholic church. Then, one day last week while I was at work, I came across a tract written by a Roman priest back in the 1930s or 40s.

His name was Joseph Zacchello, and he entered the Roman Catholic seminary at the age of ten... TEN!! Can you believe that? After 12 years of study, he was ordained. He was sent to America to be assistant pastor of a church in Chicago. One day he was driving around and a Protestant radio program was playing on his radio. He was going to change the station but something in him held him back. The pastor on the radio said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." He began to doubt the Roman religion. He had the same thoughts I've been having about Catholicism. Every time he charged someone money to perform Mass and free their relatives' souls from purgatory, he could hear Christ saying, "You are stealing money from poor, hard-working people by false promises. You teach doctrines against my teaching. Souls of believers do not go to a place of torment, because I have said, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours' (Rev. 14:13). I do not need a repetition of the sacrifices of the cross because my sacrifice was complete. My work of salvation was perfect and God has sanctioned it by raising Me from the dead. 'For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified' (Heb. 10:14). If you priests and the pope have the power of liberating souls from purgatory with Masses and indulgences, why do you wait for an offering? If you see a dog burning in the fire you do not wait for the owner to give you $5 to take the dog away from it."

Christ also says this about the pope: "You saw the pope in Rome; his large, rich palace; his guards; men kissing his foot. Do you really believe that he represents Me. I came to serve the people; I washed men's feet; I had nowhere to lay my head. Look at me upon the cross. Do you really believe that God has built His church upon a man when the Bible clearly says the Christ's Vicar on earth is the Holy Spirit, and not a man? (John 14:26) 'And that rock was Christ.' If the Roman Church is built upon a man, then it is not My church."

He was teaching his people to go to Mary, to the Saints, instead of going directly to Christ. But he was burdened with the questions that asked, "Who has saved you upon the cross? Who paid your debts by shedding his blood? Mary, the Saints, or I, Jesus? You, and many other priests do not believe in scapulars, novenas, rosaries, statues, candles; but you continue to keep them in your churches because you say simple people need simple things to remind them of God. You keep them in your churches because they are a good source of income. But I do not want any merchandising in My church. My believers should adore Me- Spirit and Truth. Destroy these idols; teach your people to pray, to come to Me only."

The one thing he talks about that really stood out to me was his feelings on confession. People were coming to him, kneeling before him, and confessing to him their sins, and with a sign of the cross he was promising them forgiveness. "I, a sinner, a man, was taking God's place, God's right, and that terrible voice was penetrating me, saying, 'You are depriving God of His glory. If sinners want to obtain forgiveness of their sins they must go to God and not to you. It is God's law they have broken. To God, therefore, they must make confession; to God alone they must pray for forgiveness. No man can forgive sins. "Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. "There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12). "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."'" (I Tim. 2:5).

Fr. Joseph decided he could no longer be a priest after listening to what Jesus had been telling him. He would have to choose between Christ and the Pope; between tradition and the Bible; and he has chosen Christ and the Bible. After he left the priesthood he began evangelizing to Roman Catholics.

I got the biggest sense of relief after I read this. It was totally a "God thing" that I found this tract in a a file stuffed full of papers in a completely full box that was one out of 30 boxes in the collection I'm working on. I know the Lord has something in store for me, and I know He will lead me in the direction I'm supposed to go. But, for now, I wait for that calling. If I'm supposed to remain Catholic, then I will. But after reading this 60+ year-old tract, I know He's got something bigger in store for me.

So, I pray for now. I pray for guidance; I pray for peace about this, so that I may finally know who I am in the Lord, not what label I will have to describe who I am in the Lord.

Ashley